Defending National Champion Princeton Outlasts Delaware, 2-1

NEWARK, Del.– The University of Delaware field hockey team snapped a school-record seven game winning streak at Rullo Stadium Sunday afternoon as the Blue Hens fell, 2-1, to defending national champion and ninth-ranked Princeton University.

Down 1-0 going into the second half, the Blue Hens amped up their energy as senior Clare O’Malley (Summit, N.J.) knotted the game at 1-1 in the 41st minute. O’Malley notched her third goal of the season off of a rebound shot at her knees.

Princeton’s Amanda Bird put up the game-winning goal in the 62nd minute as her penalty corner shot snuck between the pads of senior goalie Sarah Scher (Pocomoke City, Md.).

The two teams were tied in shots at 10 apiece while Princeton held a slight 6-5 advantage in penalty corners.

With the loss, Delaware moves to 9-4 on the year while Princeton improved to 7-4.

POST-GAME QUOTESHead Coach Rolf van de Kerkhof– “I think it took the first 10-15 minutes for our team to realize that we can play with the best. As a coach and a fan, you have to enjoy a game like this as two great teams tough it out. Stats were pretty much even across the board. We keep getting better and there’s a lot more season left for us to get excited about.”

Senior Clare O’Malley – “We became more confident as the game went on and as we played more as a team. Whenever we have the opportunity to push it, that’s a momentum changer. Our big thing is energy and when the energy shifts in our favor, we can really take advantage of that. We have little things to fine tune, but we have the confidence as the rest of the season goes on.”

Freshman Sarah Scher– “Our main goal was to go out there, dominate and just remember that we’re playing another team with a different colored jersey. It doesn’t matter if they’re ranked or not. I felt like we played as a solid team the whole way through. Yes, we lost today, but there were a lot of good things that came out of this game. We learned a lot and we’re going to use it to keep developing as a team.”

HEN SCRATCHINGS · Delaware snapped a seven-game winning streak at Rullo Stadium. The mark ties the longest winning streak at Rullo Stadium, which was set in 1998. · UD is 81-61 (.570) all-time at Rullo Stadium. · Princeton takes a 12-11-3 advantage in the all-time series between the two teams. · Dating to last season, senior goalie Sarah Scher has started 18 straight games for the Hens. She is 13th in Delaware history with 144 career saves. · Senior Clare O’Malley is tied for fourth on the team with three goals this season. She now has nine career goals.